About Cycles of Change
Cycles of Change is a bicycle education program founded in July 1998 as part of the Roosevelt Village Center, a community-based partnership aimed at reversing the root causes of youth violence. In introducing a dual-component program of mechanics workshops and bicycle-based adventures, our mission was to promote cycling as a primary means of safe, enjoyable, accessible, inexpensive, healthy, and sustainable transportation for as many area residents as possible. Operating out of a large middle school in East Oakland’s San Antonio district, the program was quickly successful in engaging neighborhood youth with its exciting program of adventure rides and hands-on mechanics. Cycles has grown steadily to become a well-known presence in our local area, providing beginners’ ride safety training, advanced bicycle adventures, bicycle restoration workshops, and environmental science programs for hundreds of East Bay youth.
In 2003, Cycles began a two-year partnership with the Alameda County Transportation Improvement Authority with the goal of furthering the development of bicycle education programs countywide. In Oakland, our strategy was to work through existing partnerships with schools to integrate bicycle education into secondary education curriculums; as a result, three high schools and a middle school have bicycle riding as a part of their PE or science programs. In Berkeley and Union City, Cycles collaborated with schools and community-based bicycle organizations to establish four new after school bicycle education programs based on the Cycles model.
